The Creative Writing Process with Ex-English Major Lydia

[MUSIC] Hello everyone and welcome to Dairy of an X English major, the show that discusses literature and media like in your favorite English seminar course. I'm your host, Deja, a blogger at cityofdasia.com, and in today's episode I interviewed books programmer and book blogger, Lydia from @PSIstillReview. We discussed her creative writing process, lost princess stories, and being a publishing hopeful. Happy listening. [MUSIC] Lydia, thank you so much for agreeing to be on my podcast, Dairy of an X English major. Thank you for having me. So I'm going to ask you a series of questions to learn more about your background studying English and about your reading life, and we'll kind of just see where this conversation takes us. So my first question for you is, what was the name of your major or concentration? I have a bachelor's in English with the minor in creative writing. Okay, cool. So you kind of got a little bit of the best of both worlds with English and creative writing. Can you tell me about why you decided to choose English as your major? So I've always liked to make up stories ever since I was a little girl. I have this book that I made in kindergarten called "Polly's Big Life." It doesn't even have that many words in it. It's just squiggly lines, pictures, and the few words I knew how to spell. Okay. Three little words. Yeah. The little words to spell. And so I didn't really know how it was a good writer until the sixth grade, though. And that's around the time that I decided I wanted to be an author. But by the time I graduated and started to enroll in community college, the day that I enrolled, the advisor told me that the major that I was going to go in, and that journalism was actually about all the blood that I was speaking and being on TV. And I was thinking, oh, I don't want to do that. I want to write. So I eventually switched over to English because I just went to community college for my general education. And I went to a university for my bachelor's degree because the community college didn't have English department. Oh, okay. Interesting. I kind of have something similar in that we were both interested in journalism because that is what I was actually really gung ho on doing journalism for quite a while before I switched to English. So that's really interesting. But for you, it was like the being in front of the camera and like speaking, you were like, I don't want to do that at all. Yeah, because my senior year, I had to do a speech class. And I shaded it so much. And I was also valedictorian. So I had to do a speech in my graduation. Okay. Yeah. Very nerve wracking. So I don't want to do that again. Okay. I mean, I get it. Like for me, I think I, even though I didn't study journalism, I eventually realized I liked public speaking, which is kind of interesting. But I didn't think I was going to be able to get as much writing in the way I wanted to out of journalism. Like, did you feel that way? Or like, what was the writing portion for journalism with that attract where you attracted to being, I guess like a journalist writer? No, I just thought that was my only option to pursue a writing career. Mm. All right. So you also mentioned about how you knew you wanted to be like an author. Like when you, I guess, started in the sixth grade. But like, were you like a lifelong reader? Or like, have you always been someone that loved to read or when did that start for you? I didn't really read that much as a child. I had like a lot of books that I looked at. But it was mostly looking at the pictures. And my mom did read to me a lot when I was little, but I didn't really get into reading until sixth grade. And I was excited. I went to be an author. Authors have to read a lot to get better at their craft. So this kind of all happened at the same time. OK. What was like that? Or what was-- what were you reading at the time in the sixth grade? Do you remember? A lot of American girl books. Oh, OK. I never read any of those. So-- I had to read Josefina for school in the fourth grade because we had to do a book report. And I got to pick my book. My older sister still had her copy. So she let me read that. So I kind of got into that series around fourth to sixth grade. But then sixth grade is when I started reading the click series. And that really jump started in my love for reading. OK. Yeah. I think as someone who follows you, I've seen that series in relation to you. Because I never read it. But I've seen some of your content about the click, which is interesting. I have seen the movie, though. So thoughts on that? It's not as good as the books. It's just too sentimental compared to the books. Because Matthew is me. Ooh, wow. Like really rude. She's out here to destroy lives. Yeah. Well, I guess they had to maybe tone it down for the movie. Because I thought the movie was-- I forget when I watched it. I wasn't like prime age. I didn't watch it when I was like a 12 year old. I was probably like, I don't know, in my mid teens or something. But I thought it was cute. I like the clothes. That's a good compliment. So I'm really interested in, I guess, the creative writing portion. Because you said that you knew you wanted to be an author. So did you know the type of books and everything that you wanted to write? Or did that develop for you when you knew? OK. I knew I wanted-- I knew I wanted to write a book or books. In the sixth grade, I kind of figured out that was a good writer when he had to do this assignment for my English class. I wrote a historical fiction. And we were going through the process of like, this is the planning stage, drafting, revising them publishing. So when I wrote that, I was thinking, oh, I really enjoyed this. This is what I want to do. OK. But over the years, I had like a lot of ideas. I've been varying towards contemporary when I was varying towards that when I was younger. But now the stuff that I write is not the type of books that I read. Oh, OK. What does that mean? I usually don't like reading sci-fi because I have very particular taste. But the first book that I wrote is a space off for sci-fi. Oh, OK. So I wonder, do you feel like maybe you can't-- because you have such a particular taste with sci-fi that you can't consume it as much because you rather just write it exactly how you wanted to be. Is that like a logic behind it? Yeah. Yeah. Because I like the Lunar Chronicles and the Zodiac series by Romina and Russell. That's pretty much the only sci-fi I haven't enjoyed. Yeah. That's really interesting. I mean, I don't really honestly read a lot of sci-fi either. If I-- I think the Lunar Chronicles might be the only sci-fi series that I've actually read. But-- and I didn't even read that because I was like, oh, it's sci-fi. I read it because it was like very tell retellings. And it made me fall in love with Marissa Meyers' writing style. And I still need to read some of her other things-- like Remigates and all that stuff, but I just never got to it. But-- I feel like the appeal of the genre is the world building for me. That's what made me want to write that-- that in the character journeys. I hate writing the fight scenes. I can't picture it in my head. I have to see it in person. Oh, wow. So what's your writing process like, I guess, for other stuff that you enjoy writing? So if it's not fight scenes, what's the thing that you enjoy writing? And then I was like, dialogue or-- I do enjoy writing the dialogue. I have these pages on my notion, because that's where I plan out all my writing stuff. These sub pages were just the portable writing. So what I call it. So I just have a toggle in description of what type of scene is going to be-- probably where it's going to be in the book. And then just do a script style, either the character's name or just their initial. If they say this, another person says this over and over again. And I realize I like writing the conversation scenes the most. Wow. It's like the drama-- It's like the drama-- OK, the drama. I mean, the drama is what I like to read as a reader. So I mean, I'm sure it's just as fun to craft it yourself and have all the witty remarks or whatever it is. And I feel like this where the characters really get at their issue, this what's they're yelling at each other. And then they say something really point it and like, oh, that's the issue that you're having right now. Let's talk about that and fix that. Yeah, yeah. That's really cool. I think for me-- I don't know. It depends on the genre, I guess, that I'm reading, because for a while when I was reading "Armox" it's almost exclusively romance, then dialogue was a big thing for me because if the dialogue was bad, then I'm like, I can't get through this book. I can't. But I've also read some books where the fight scenes-- I wasn't that impressed by it, but I can look past that. So I think to have a really good book that I would want to read and dedicate my time to the dialogue has to be on point. So I like that something that you focus on a lot. But I do feel like sometimes the characters get caught up in their speeches. I feel like I have to tone that down a lot. In your own writing? Yeah. OK. Yes. No. I mean, I think that's a good thing that you even mention that or realize it, because I don't like-- I like dialogue, but the caveat is that when someone is just like, oh, that's so boxed, and I'm like, OK, you've been talking for a page and a half. That's a bit much. That's not that long. Yes, I've been formatting my books as scripts, because they've wrote my first draft for my current book. The book that I had just finished, I finished that draft for school, and it was a screenwriting class. OK. So I just kind of kept that format, because I wanted to be a graphic novel eventually. OK. Wow. Plus, I said a lot easier for me to write. And it's quicker. I don't have to worry about my brain is blanking on the word this opposite of dialogue. The rest of the writing. That's not a lot. I'm not a creative writer, so I don't know. I don't know the terms. But how many completed projects have you written? Just one. OK. And I'm working on the C4 right now. OK. And is it a doology or is it a trilogy? It's a doology, and I'm also planning a playful mini series and a anthology book. Wow. That's fascinating to me, because I'm not really a creative writer. Like, I'm not someone who actually has dreams of writing my own fiction book. Like, if I were ever to write a book, it would probably be like a collection of essays or something. So I'm so fascinated by all the content that you have already planned out. So for you, what comes first, like for a story's idea? For this one, I just got the idea at random when I was journaling about my favorite princess movies. And I realized that a lot of them were lost princess stories. So after I wrote about those movies, I did it a whole list of the basics of a lost princess story. Wow. OK. Cool. I posted about it on my blog. I can pull it up the list in a second. Yeah. Do it. So what are some of those favorite lost princess movies? The 1997 Anastasia Tangled and Barbie Astroponzel. Ooh. OK. Love Tangled. I haven't seen the others. Or maybe I have seen Anastasia. I don't know. I really love that one. The Paz like was the main inspiration for the book. I want it then. Here is the list. OK. These are all questions that you have to ask when you're creating the lost princess story. How or why did she get separated from her family? Who will she bring in up with? Did some family members die? What slush who keeps her away from her home? Will she have memory loss or be too young to remember her family? What will be her tether to her family? When I wrote that, I was thinking about how Anastasia has heard together in Paris necklace. Barbie Astroponzel has the hairbrush that eventually turned into a paintbrush that helps her get out of the tower. I think Raponzel from Tangled just has the repressed memory of the suns from the coronavirus flag. Because I got to end the movie. She realized that she's been painting around that shape in her murals. OK. Yeah. And another question is, how will her prince be involved in her journey? Will the villain try to foil this journey? And how will the princess and her prince defeat them? Will she reunite with her family before after the final showdown? Will she find out she's the lost princess? And where is her half-reviewed ever after? Will their family, with her prince, or with both? Oh, OK. Wow. I think that's such an interesting list because it does tackle almost everything. And with these kind of guiding questions, do you outline your story in its entirety? Or does it kind of form as you are writing? I did with that book. I did outline. I usually don't. But I'm forcing myself to do that now, because I'm trying to finish a second one during Yen L'Reimo. It's just going to be a lot easier if I have the outline right in front of me, just write everything in order. And for those who don't know, Nano Riemoke, you tell us what that is. Nano Riemoke is National Ennoblin Writing Month. So the goal is to write a whole book in the month of November. Wow. And have you ever completed that? That's such a daunting task. I see authors who I follow, who do it. I'm just like, I feel like it takes a lot of planning, but also maybe just a lot of luck too, like you just are in such a good head space with writing, which kind of leaves me to, I guess, the question about, writers' blocks. Because that's something that you deal with, or how do you get around it if you do? I feel like I've only faced writers' block when I don't have a plan. My problem usually is having ideas come to me like 3am. I'm being up for hours on and typing stuff out on my phone. Oh my god, you know who you sound? Taylor Swift does that with her music. Like literally 3am is like a thing. So I mean, hey, if you're like anything like mislip tier, then we definitely have the next, we have the next best seller on our hands. Do you want your book to be young adult, or has that evolved or changed for you? My goal is probably try to push it into older young adult, college age, 'cause the main character is 19. My friend's also 21. This is kind of a murky area, and I'm trying to not let it be explicit. Okay, yeah. Which I feel like that kind of interesting young adult but not like young teen, adult kind of YA is like really emerging now. I feel like I've seen at least more often, like some characters who are like 18, 19, like the love interest is like in their 20s, but it's still like YA. So I think there's definitely a place for it. And there's also a lot of dark content in it, and also with it being a graphic novel, there comes a caveat of like, what do I show? Oh, okay. Is visually represented in this story. For like a graphic novel, would it be your art as illustrations? No. Oh, I like to draw, but I'm not good at digital drawing. Okay. And I don't feel like I've trained enough for it to be professionally published. Okay. I see. I've had my eye on an online artist. If she would do that out before her to do the art, but honestly, I just find it probably up to the publisher. Yeah. Okay. That's so interesting that you say that about how the publisher I guess has that power when it comes to getting books in shape for publication. So you do, or I guess I'll ask you, do you want to go that traditional publishing, like 100% or have you ever thought about self publishing? I wanted to be traditionally published. Okay. Just like for the promotional stuff. Okay. Yeah. So like they marketed and they kind of do everything all you had to do is write the book seemingly. Yeah. That's really cool. I think that like, I, as I learned more about like, publishing and I guess it's breath and like all that it really does. It would be like, it's hard work to be a self publish author because like you're your own everything. And I mean, some of that is also just luck because some self publish authors became published because, you know, like TikTok got a hold of their book, Instagram got a hold of their book, and then it kind of blew up. But I mean, I'm sure that this happened for the vex majority. So you studied English and creative writing. Is there like a lesson or a skill that you learned in either your English classes or in your creative writing classes that is like stuck with you the most as a writer or as a reader? I think my English classes taught me to be more critical of the stuff that I consume. But it took a minute to get to that because my first couple of semesters at the university was kind of surface level reading and we're reading a lot of short stories or like excerpts from books. So we didn't really get really in-depth with the analysis of what we're at reading. - Oh, okay. - But in spring 2021, so was my third semester at the university. I took this class called Art of Critical Reading and Writing 2. And from my final essay I wrote about this book that we read called Leave the World Behind. And I was discussing how social hierarchy won't matter in a poccalictic setting. - Wow. - So that's when I felt like it really settled in. Like, oh, this is how I can articulate my thoughts in an organized way and like make strong critical arguments. - Okay. And in those classes, like was the, or when you got to that point, was it like an assignment or, what are you trying to say? Was there an instance or like an essay or something that you had to write that triggered that or was it really like just the process of you learning? Like, oh, this is how I would be like analytical in my reading. - I think it was just a repeated process of writing all those papers during the semester and getting good constructive feedback that actually helped me. Like was that my writing? - Okay, and was it from your peers or from your professor? - My professor. - Okay. That's cool. I feel like I had a similar experience within like my creative writing class because I had to take one as a requirement for my major. But it was a lot of like peer review instead of like just like directly from the professor. And I didn't honestly feel like that helped me as like it didn't help me grow as a creative writer. And like I said before, like that wasn't something that was like my strong suit. I feel like I'm a better reader of creative things and I am of like being the actual author of it and in the creative writing class. Like it was fine. I still have some of my assignments that I really enjoy. I mean, well, it's a little cringy now. But like in the moment, I was like, okay, like this is kind of good. So like I saved it and I was like happy about it. But I don't think that I was like shaved by my like peer review. Is that something that you like you experienced as like a creative writer or like when it came to getting feedback, was it better to get it from the professor or like did you have a really good like peer review with your classmates? I feel like the peer review was a hit or miss because a lot of times my classmates just want to get the work done and move on. They weren't really invested in becoming better writers. That I was, so it was frustrating a lot of the times. But I did good feedback when I was doing my screen writing class for the book that I wrote during the class. It was mostly like the emotional feedback that was getting from my classmates to help because they were talking about, oh, I don't like this character. I like to see this character reclaim her throne as a princess. Stuff like that. Yeah. I guess that felt too like the writers room, like how they had it for TV shows and like all these opinions and stuff like the one back and forth that that's kind of what makes the final product even better. I never took a screen writing class, so I think that's kind of cool. So now I guess we can transition to talking about some of your reading. I think for all the insight on the writing and creative writing, I think that's really cool because what I wanted is for our listeners to hear from people who are in the thick of it. So I wish you the best of luck on your journey and writing your new work in progress. So do you have an ETA on ETA? Do you know when you want to be done or is it just your saving it for Nano-Remo? I'm currently outlining it right now. OK. And I'm going to say that for Nano-Remo, I'm like taking the third quarter of the year to take a break from this project and work on something else. Well, a lot of dedication goes into that. So I think that's really awesome. And I hope that you complete Nano-Remo this year because how cool would that be? So the next set of questions I have are really just about your reading life. So we're just like two bookish people talking about books. And I have to ask like the obligatory, what are you currently reading right now? I recently started Harley in the sky by a Kenmie Dawn Bowman. OK, I don't know if I know that one. What's like the genre? Can you give us like a small pitch? The risk and temporary YA. OK. It's about this girl who wants to become a trapeze artist and her parents own a circus, but they don't want her to pursue that career. They wanted to go to college first. So she runs away to join a different circus. OK, cool. I haven't read a contemporary YA in a minute, although it does really fill up my shells, but I think that I kind of have to be in the mood for it. Is that something that makes up most of your reading? Yeah. Since you want to write it. And do you rate and review the books that you read? Most of them, but not all of them. Oh, OK. And the ones that you do is it on good reads or your blog or how do you go about reviewing them? Or is it just for you? On good reads, my blog. And it's a little bit of story graph, but I mostly just do the rating in content warnings because my account isn't public on there. So I don't bother with the reviews. OK, cool. That's mostly for my statistics. Yeah, and that's something that good reads doesn't have that content warning option, or at least not in the same way that story graph has it. Thank you. The next question is, where do you get your book recommendations? Mostly Instagram now. OK, so mostly Instagram for you. Is it like, or I guess the follow up to that is how do you go about getting your book recommendations? Do you see like a photo of a book and look it up? Or is it like trusted people that you follow who have similar taste to you? Or how do you go about, I guess, grasping the ones that you actually want to read versus the ones that maybe you don't from Instagram? I follow a lot of publishers and authors on Instagram. So I mostly pay attention to what my favorite authors are coming out with soon. And there's sometimes when accounts with their posts, the books would catch my eye. Like, there's some that would do like a new release Tuesday. Like, this is what came out today and they have the description of the book on the slides. So if the book catch my eye, I just bookmarked that and it's my good reads later. OK, cool. Do you, so you read a lot of new releases? I've gathered. Or do you really? No, you don't. No, I just read the ones from authors that I enjoyed. Before. Or if it's like an interesting concept, I'll try that one out. But I really don't read new releases as they're coming out that much. OK. Yeah. I used to. I used to love like getting like every single new book I came out and then I don't know. I think sometimes you can get a little like, and undated with the new trends and then all the books kind of start to blur together your head because everything is, you know, I mean, I understand like when books are coming out, they have to kind of hit what the market wants. So when you're reading a lot of the new things that are on the show, then sometimes they don't feel less distinct. So I've been like more of a backlist reader in the last, I'd say like year or so. I think the issue for me is this access because I don't always want to pay full price for a new book. So I usually rely on my library to get the audio book or sometimes the e-book. Because I feel like I can dedicate the time because I'm a slow reader in this even slower when I'm reading e-books. I see. So your preferred method is audio book. Yeah. OK. And do you listen on one point speed, one point five speed, one point five or one point four five? OK. It depends on the book. Yeah. Yeah. So when I listen to audio books, the longest time I could not get past like one point two five. But now I can do like one point five typically, especially if an air reader I like. I can go to two times speed or three times if I'm just trying to get through it really quickly. Oh. That sounds like gibberish to me. I had to do that for a book that I had to read for school. And I've also had to do that for a confess by calling Hilver. So when the sex scene came up, I was so uncomfortable. I just wanted to be off. That's why I can't read adult books is too. I can't do it too much going on, which I mean, I will say I think that like the adult romance like area of like the reading world right now has has tried to cater to, you know, not making them so steamy. There is the side that it's like full on like steam because that's really trendy right now, but there is, you know, I would say some that aren't, but miss miss over will leave her Lydia was not a fan of the fact. I love to when I read it. I give it one and a half stars. It was terrible. Oh, you didn't like the art. No. I didn't like the men either. They're all terrible. And I'm mad that the mother-in-law has my name. Oh, wait, your name was Trinity. Yes. Every Lydia in a book is terrible and deserves to be punched in the face. I feel like Lydia in books is always like the mean girl name. Like that's like, I don't know. I can't even like give you an example, but that's like the vibe for in books and in media. I used to have a running list of characters named Lydia in books. They're either unimportant or terrible. I don't know why I thought you were about to say unemployed. Unimportant sounds better for me. I mean, some of them are children. Yes. That's funny. That's really funny. What am I currently reading? I just finished a book, one for my enemy by all of you Blake, and it was really good. But my current read is actually a reread, which I won't reveal because I'm going to be talking about it on the podcast next week. So we've reached the end of our interview. I had so much fun learning more about your background with English and about what you're currently reading and specifically about the kind of way that you approach writing. I think that it'll be very helpful for some of our listeners to who are also writers or aspiring writers to kind of see what your process is like. I do have to say, like, when it comes to publishing, are you or do you know when you'll be in a place to start like, optioning your book off to publishers? Or is it something that's just kind of in the future for you? Probably in the next few years, if something goes to plan. Okay. Cool. But all depends on finding an illustrator first. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully it works out with the person that you mentioned or, you know, I feel like you should just kind of put on your own chops and start practicing with digital art. You never know. You never know. And then it'll be your name on it on it only. So think about it like that. Well, I do want to learn how to do digital art. So yeah. At some point, I mean, hey, I think it'll be a really, I think that'll be the best way to go. But thank you again for being on the podcast. And that is where I will leave you today. I had so much fun speaking with Lydia. So make sure you follow her on socials at PS, I still review on Instagram and her blog, psistorydue.wordpress.com, and both will be linked in the show notes. Thanks for listening to Dari of an ex English major. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you follow the show on your chosen podcast platform, leave a review on Apple podcasts, and follow the podcast Instagram at Dari of an ex English major that's E and G. And I'll see you all soon.